Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs (born 1965) is an award-winning fantasy author known for her lifelike characters and humorous dialogue. She was born in Butte, Montana, and lived in various cities in the Pacific Northwest before returning to her home town.

Writing history

Patricia began writing in 1990, and published her first novel "Masques" in 1993. An account of her first publication can be found at [http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/01/04/my-first-sale-by-patricia-briggs-still-a-little-surprised-at-being-published/ DearAuthor.com]

Sales on her first book were abysmal, which very nearly ended her career. Fortunately, she was eventually able to sell the next book "Steal the Dragon" which garnered substantially better sales and some favorable editorial reviews. Her career showed a slow, steady increase in sales and readership over the next several books.

With better sales, and correspondingly higher confidence in selling her next work, she was able to begin writing multi-book stories. "Dragon Bones" and "Dragon Blood" share both the same world and the same characters, though both are complete stories. "Raven's Shadow" and "Raven's Strike" are an honest duology, with a single story line spanning both novels. More recently, she has announced there will be at least seven novels in her best-selling 'Mercy Thompson' series. One hallmark of Briggs' books is that each book is a stand-alone story, and the reader is never left with a cliffhanger ending waiting for the next novel to figure out what happened.

Her skill at crafting convincing characters eventually led her editor to ask if she would write an urban fantasy. The genre was showing promising growth, and the publisher wanted to expand their offerings. She accepted, signing a contract for three books, and penned "Moon Called", which sold far better than her previous novels, making it to the USA Today bestseller lists. The second book in the series, "Blood Bound" hit the New York Times bestseller list, much to the surprise of both the author and her publishers. Her most recent book, "Iron Kissed" was a #1 New York Times bestseller.

At this time she has contracted for four more 'Mercy Thompson' books, and has started a spin-off series based on the characters in "Alpha and Omega".

Bibliography

Novels

ianim Series

* "Masques" (1993)
* "Steal the Dragon" (1995)
* "When Demons Walk" (1998)

Hurog Duology

* "Dragon Bones" (2002)
* "Dragon Blood" (2003)

Raven Duology

* "Raven's Shadow" (2004)
* "Raven's Strike" (2005)

Mercedes Thompson Series

* "Moon Called" (2006)
* "Blood Bound" (2007)
* "Iron Kissed" (2008)
* "Bone Crossed" (2009)

Alpha and Omega Series

"set in the same world as the Mercy Thompson stories"
* "Alpha and Omega:On the Prowl" (2007) (novella, see Anthology Contributions)
* "Cry Wolf" (2008) a follow-on from the novella

tand-alone novels

* "The Hob's Bargain" (2001)

Anthology Contributions

* "The Price" in "Silver Birch, Blood Moon" (by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow)
* "Alpha and Omega" in "On the Prowl" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.autorasenlasombra.com/Patricia_Briggs/ Patricia Briggs]
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Patricia_Briggs.htm Fantastic Fiction - Patricia Briggs Biography]
* [http://www.crescentblues.com/6_1issue/int_briggs.shtml Crescent Blue Author Interview: "Patricia Briggs"]
* [http://www.hurog.com Patricia's Web Site ]
* [http://www.fantasyliterature.net/briggspatricia.html Novel synopses, cover art, and reviews at Fantasy Literature.net]